ONCE of a mazy afternoon, beside that summer sea, I watched a shoal of sunny beams come swimming close to me. Each was a whited candle flamelet, flickering in air; Each was a silver daffodil astonied to be there; Each was a diving summer star, its brightness come to lave; And each a little naked spirit leaping on the wave. And while I sat, and while I dreamed, beside that summer sea, There came the fairest thought of all that ever came to me; The tiny lives of tiny men, no more they seemed to mean Than one of those sweet seeds of light sown on that water green; No more they seemed, no less they seemed, than shimmerings of sky -- The little sunny smiles of God that glisten forth and die. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EIGHT O'CLOCK by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN ON THE BUILDING OF SPRINGFIELD by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY A RONDEL OF LUVE [LOVE] by ALEXANDER SCOTT (1520-1590) FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS by JOANNA BAILLIE TO HIS FRIEND IN ELYSIUM by JOACHIM DU BELLAY ECHOES OF SPRING: 6 by MATHILDE BLIND THE LEADING OF SORROW by MATHILDE BLIND SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 9 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |